Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War IINEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR “A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace.”—The Wall Street Journal Freedom’s Forge reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen—General Motors automobile magnate William “Big Bill” Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the “arsenal of democracy” that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II. Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines into fountains of munitions. In four short years they transformed America’s army from a hollow shell into a truly global force, laying the foundations for the country’s rise as an economic as well as military superpower. Freedom’s Forge vividly re-creates American industry’s finest hour, when the nation’s business elites put aside their pursuit of profits and set about saving the world. Praise for Freedom’s Forge “A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . It’s not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.’ ”—Publishers Weekly “The production statistics cited by Mr. Herman . . . astound.”—The Economist “[A] fantastic book.”—Forbes “Freedom’s Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.”—Donald Rumsfeld |
Contents
PREFACE | 3 |
Chapter One THE GENTLE GIANT | 14 |
Chapter Two THE MASTER BUILDER | 37 |
Chapter Three THE WORLD OF TOMORROW | 58 |
3 | 258 |
37 | 279 |
Chapter Seventeen THE BATTLE OF KANSAS | 304 |
Chapter Eighteen FIRE THIS TIME | 318 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 347 |
JOINING THE ARSENAL | 353 |
NOTES | 359 |
58 | 362 |
Chapter Six ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY | 368 |
Chapter Eleven THE PRODUCTION EXPRESS | 374 |
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY | 387 |
| 401 | |
Other editions - View all
Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II Arthur Herman Limited preview - 2012 |
Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II Arthur Herman Limited preview - 2012 |
Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II Arthur Herman No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
Air Force aircraft airplane Alfred Sloan Army Air Arsenal of Democracy assembly line auto aviation Battle of Kansas Beasley biggest Bill Knudsen Boeing bomb bombers Borth Britain British Building the B-29 built Chevrolet Chrysler civilian Clay Bedford contract defense Detroit Diary engines factory finally Ford Fuze going guns Hap Arnold Heiner Henry Kaiser Hoover Dam hundred industry Japanese Kaiser Papers knew Knudsen Papers labor later LeMay Lend-Lease Liberty ship Lindbergh machine tools magnesium manufacturing March Mass Production Masters of Mass military million Miracle of World Mobilization months Motors Navy Nelson numbers Pearl Harbor percent planes plant president Press problem Richmond Richmond Shipyards riveting Roosevelt shipbuilding Ships for Victory shipyards Sloan Sorensen steel Stettinius Stimson Superfortress tanks thousand tion told tons turned U.S. Army U.S. Steel Walton wanted wartime Washington welding Willow Run wing workers World War II yards York